Presidential Elections in Armenia and the Opposition's Long March

On 18 February 2013, presidential elections were held in Armenia. According to the official results, the incumbent president, Serzh Sargsyan, who was first elected in 2008, won the elections with 58.64 percent of the votes, while his closest rival, Raffi Hovannisian, received 36.75 percent of the votes. Hovannisian disputed the election results and launched a long protest action. The presidential inauguration on April 9 legally bestowed full legitimacy on the second mandate of the incumbent Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan, but it hardly put an end to the so-called BaRevolution, the opposition movement that took shape after the elections.